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Wednesday, 19 October 2011

BRANCHING OFF INTO ‘OO9’

First steps in narrow gauge modelling

My little NCB works train is slowly taking shape.

The past few afternoons have been spent assembling a handful of laser-cut styrene kits from The Bespoke Carriage Company. Although they need much more work before they're complete, I’m already redrawing my Maudetown Colliery extension plans to include a short run of ‘OO9’ gauge track. Narrow gauge has never really appealed to me until fairly recently but I’m really gripped by the idea of a little works train pootling about amongst the full-size mainline traffic.

The ‘Ratty’ steam loco kit is designed for mounting atop a Kato ‘N’ tram chassis, but I wondered if I could try something different. At the moment, I'm trying to mount it onto a Farish J94 0-6-0 underframe. That way, I can have a set of coupled wheels beneath the bodyshell, adding a little more visual interest. Hopefully , it should be running by the end of the week.

Look out for an in-depth ‘Benchtest’ demo/review in Model Rail in the New Year. In the meantime, though, you can learn more about this range of kits and modelling accessories at www.yorkmodelmaking.com

Presented in the form of sheets of 0.8mm laser-cut styrene, the kits are simple to put together and can be readily customised and enhanced with extra details. I'm planning to use a 0-6-0T chassis under the loco.

The underframes are also cut from styrene and built up in layers to give realistic relief. A small range of rolling stock is available, although the kits are only being produced in limited numbers. A full evaluation and demo will appear in Model Rail soon.